Clegg ready to help with Brexit talks

NICK CLEGG has said he is willing to assist the next Prime Minister over Brexit although he rejected joining a Conservative or Labour-led coalition.

The Liberal Democrat EU spokesman, who is defending his Sheffield Hallam seat, also claimed Brexit talks will take decades given how “woefully unprepared” Brexit Secretary David Davis appears to be.

Asked how he would respond should Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn want to tap into his experience as a former European Commission trade negotiator and MEP, Mr Clegg said: “I’m very happy to provide advice and share some expertise.

“I’m not going to join a government led by Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn.

“But... I have a fair amount of experience and insight into how politics works across the European Union, and also frankly I have a strong awareness right now of the dismay with which other European leaders are looking at Theresa May’s behaviour.

“I’m very happy to share that with anyone who cares to listen.”

On what sort of negotiator the UK requires, Mr Clegg said: “I just really worry that David Davis and his team are just woefully unprepared. He made the stunning revelation yesterday that after a year of faffing about in Whitehall, he’s come up with a grand total of 100 pages of notes on Brexit.

“This is going to take thousands and thousands and thousands of pages of legally-binding documentation, never mind notes.”